TROY — All four Miami County teams at the Troy Invitational wrestling tournament Saturday at the Trojan Activity Center could find a lot of positives with their teams.

MIAMI EAST

The Vikings led the way with a second-place finish behind Fairmont.

The Firebirds finished with 289 points and Miami East had 263.5.

“Coming off the Medina Invitational, where we had our best finish ever and see the kids come back and wrestle the way they did, I was happy with that,” Miami East coach Rich Randall said.

The Vikings had seven wrestlers make it to the championship matches.

“I was really pleased with the way we battled back in the last two rounds,” Randall said. “We were 46 points back going to the last two rounds and cut that in half.”

Cooper Shore (126), Aaron Mills (144), Drake Bennett (190) and Dusty Winner (275) all won titles.

Shore was 5-0 with five pins to remain undefeated on the season, Mills was 5-0 with three pins, Bennett was 5-0 with four pins and Winner lived up to his name, going 4-0 with three pins.

Taking second were John Kemp (157), Hunter Randall (165) and Dylan Arthur (215).

Kemp was 3-1 with a pin, Randall was 4-1 with two pins and Arthur was 4-1 with four pins.

Taking third were Gabe Cole (113) and Layton Hughes (138).

Cole was 3-1 with three pins and Hughes was 4-1 with a tech fall and a pin.

Garrett Fine (120) finished fifth, going 3-2 with two pins and Chris Smith (175) took sixth, going 2-2 with two pins.

“I was really happy with the way some of our kids who hadn’t place and extras came in here and battled,” Randall said. “I am a guy who is never satisfied, so I am always going to feel like we can be better. There is a point in the season where you want to start to gel and we are getting to that point.”

TROY

Trojan coach Doug Curnes was pleased with his team’s third-place finish.

“Top three is where we have been in pretty much every tournament other than the Holiday,” Curnes said. “So, that was the goal going in — to be in the top three. I feel like we have gotten better every tournament and one of the reason for that is we have 19 freshman. We had 30 kids wrestle today.”

Taking second were T.J. Murray (106), Nathan Brewster (138), Tyler Plunkett (150) and Xavier Poffenberger (175).

Murray was 3-1 with two pins and a tech fall, Brewster was 4-1 with three pins, Plunkett was 4-1 with four pins and Poffenberger was 3-1 with three pins.

“We had four guys wrestling for titles and 10 guys in the finals (who placed),” Curnes said. “I know Covington was missing some people and Miami East wasn’t at full strength. But, to finish third in this tournament with such a young team is really good.”

Taking fourth were Anden Kemmer (120) and Nolan Fox (126).

Kemmer was 2-3 with one pin and Fox was 2-3 with two pins.

Taking fifth were Danny Murray (165) and Owen Zickenfoose (190).

Murray was 3-2 with three pins and Zickenfoose was 3-2 with two pins.

Aaron Oates (132) and Kiernan Schnur (215) both placed sixth.

Both were 2-2 with two pins.

COVINGTON

The Buccs were missing some of their wrestlers due to injuries, but still turned in a strong showing.

Carson Taylor (106), Michael Hagen (120) and Chase Vanderhorst (132) all came away with titles.

Taylor was 5-0 with four pins, Hagan was 5-0 with five pins and Vanderhorst was 5-0 with three pins.

“This is always a tough tournament, so having three guys win is pretty good,” Covington coach Eric Vanderhorst said. “We knew they were all capable of that. Michael (Hagan) probably had the toughest path. He had to beat a state placer in the championship match.

“Our 126 (Jericho Quinter) would have had a great match with Cooper Shore,” Vanderhorst said. “But, he was a little banged up so I didn’t bring him. Caleb (Ryman) and Zeb (Woodward-Roeth) both did a nice job. I was really pleased with how my less experienced wrestlers and extras wrestled today,”

PIQUA

It may not have been exactly the way Piqua junior Max Kaye (138 pounds) drew it up, but he came away with the title Saturday, while Nikolai Kaye (126) finished second to lead the Indians to a seventh-place finish.

Kaye had four wins, three by pin and one by disqualification heading into the championship match with Brewster.

He gave up a nearfall in the first period and got down 5-2, before recording a pin early in the second period for the win.

“That match did not reflect the caliber of wrestler Max (Kaye) is,” Piqua coach Hunter Bryant said. “I put him is some bad situations in the first period, but fortunately Max is an experienced wrestler. He doesn’t panic and finds a way to get out of those situations.”

Nikolai Kaye went 4-0 with two pins and and a tech fall heading into the championship match with Shore. And, while he got pinned like nearly every wrestler Shore has faced this season, he got great experience against one of the top wrestlers in the state.

“It doesn’t get anymore real than Cooper Shore,” Bryant said. “He is one of the top wrestlers in the state. What could be better for a freshman like Nikolai than that?. I told him to go out and have fun with it.”

Piqua had seven other wrestlers place.

“We aren’t where I feel like we should be or want to be, but we are getting there,” Bryant said. “We have some kids who have worked really hard. We are progressing. We are not there yet, but we will get there.”

Taking fourth were Gavin Nelson (132) and Brackett Osborne (190).

Nelson went 3-1 with one pin and Osborne went 3-2 with three pins.

Taking fifth were Dylan Johnston (106), Brady Mikolajewski (126) and Hayden Barker (215),

Johnston was 2-2 with one pin, Mikolajewski was 4-1 with three pins and Barker was 3-1 with one pin.

Taking sixth were Logan Wells (113) and Eli Watkins (157).

Wells had one pin and Watkins was 2-2 with one pin.

Milton-Union

Invitational

WEST MILTON — The Milton-Union wrestling team finished second at the Milton-Union Invitational.

Winning were Payton Mayfield (126) and Nathan Barker (157).

Mayfield was 3-0 with three pins and Barker was 5-0 with three pins.

Taking second were Jacob Lightner (120), Kegan Crow (132), Seth Lowery (144), Ian Coffey (157), Connor Gibson (165), Trey Kiser (175) and Colton Hultgren (215).

Lightner was 4-1 with two pins, Crow and Lowery were 3-2 with two pins, Coffey was was 3-1 with two pins, Gibson was 4-1 with three pins, Kiser was 4-1 with two pins and a tech fall and Hultgren was 2-2 with two pins.

Perrysburg

Invitational

PERRYSBURG — The Troy Christian wrestling team finished 24th at the Perrysburg Invitational.

Jason Shaffer (132) led the Eagles.

He finished 5-1.

Kyle Schroer (113) and Lee Burkett (190) both finished sixth.

They were both 2-3 with one pin.

You can reach Sports Editor Rob Kiser at [email protected]